Twitter Mailbag: Jones and Cormier brawl, MMA blogosphere explodes

It’s not often that the majority of the questions sent in for the Twitter Mailbag revolved around something that happened at a press conference. But then, what happened between UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones and challenger Daniel Cormier on Monday was not your normal MMA photo-op, so I suppose it makes sense.

Don’t worry, we’ll also find some time to discuss the rascal Conor McGregor, the rapidly dimming future prospects for one Michael Bisping, and that crazy Bellator light heavyweight title booking.

Want to talk about something else? Then send your own TMB question to @BenFowlkesMMA. Be the change you want to see or whatever.

@benfowlkesMMA Despite the UFC's stance on the Monday's brawl, what does it say that they allow UFC tonight to joke about it so much? #TMB—
  (@extnct1) August 07, 2014

Well, the phrasing of your question is itself an indictment of “UFC Tonight,” but we could just as easily ask what it says that the UFC condemned the brawl in an official statement, yet couldn’t get the video on the Internet fast enough. According to UFC Chief Legal Officer Kirk Hendrick, the brawl was “certainly not a proud moment for the UFC organization.” Which is weird, since if you go to the UFC’s website right now, you can see video of that incident featured pretty prominently, almost as if the UFC is trying to make sure nobody fails to see this allegedly embarrassing moment for the organization.

We can all see what’s going on here, right? The UFC can’t come right out and say that it thinks this was a very helpful, though also pretty risky publicity generator. At least publicly, it has to play the role of the disappointed father, sternly shaking its head at both Jones and Cormier. In private, however, the UFC is still a business, and stuff like this sells pay-per-views. So far this press conference brawl has been discussed on ESPN’s “Sportscenter,” on pretty much every major sports website out there, and even on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” where the dude from “The Man Show” went ahead and took a bit of a cheap shot at the former Olympian Cormier.

As far as generating interest in the fight, this brawl was great for the UFC. It also could have very easily turned out much, much worse, both for the participants and for the people caught up in the melee. It was risky, in other words. If you thought MMA fighters were all brainless thugs before this incident, watching Jones and Cormier destroy a press conference set and fling shoes around the lobby of the MGM Grand probably didn’t do much to change your mind. Then again, if you thought that before, you probably weren’t going to buy this pay-per-view anyway. The UFC is primarily concerned with the other people, the ones who are on the fence about whether to drop 60 bucks watching unarmed combat on a Saturday night in September. You’ve got to think that this one incident brought a whole lot of those people down on the paying side of the fence this week. No wonder the UFC wants to make sure they all get a good look at that video.

@benfowlkesMMA if the UFC chooses to only lightly reprimand Jones/Cormier for their brawl, does that give them a black eye for past cuts?—
Ross Fenimore (@r_fenimore) August 06, 2014

@benfowlkesMMA ie High pushing ref, Daley punching Koscheck post bout, etc. And what precedence does it set for future offenders?—
Ross Fenimore (@r_fenimore) August 06, 2014

It’s pretty obvious by now that justice is not meted out equally without regards to stature or station in the UFC’s republic. The fighters who are low on the totem pole can get cut for saying the wrong thing, while the superstars can literally manhandle UFC employees and not fear for one moment that it will cost them their jobs. As we’ve known for some time, what you can get away with in the UFC depends on how valuable you are to the UFC. The Jones-Cormier incident only reiterates that point.

As far as what message that sends to other fighters, I think it’s pretty clear: Watch your step … at least until you’re somebody special. It works for the same reason the UFC’s pay scale works. Fighters more or less all think they’re going to be somebody special. You probably wouldn’t do this sport if you didn’t think you had it in you to be the best. To those of us on the outside, the contrast between how the UFC treated Jason High and how it’s treating Jones and Cormier is proof of an uneven, unfair application of the delightfully vague UFC “code of conduct.” But to fighters, it might just be a sign that you have to play by the rules until the day when you inevitably become champ.

@benfowlkesMMA in a word, Gustaffson thought the brawl was "Childish"… in a word, Ben Fowlkes thinks the brawl was…—
John-Jo Carter (@dreadhead1336) August 06, 2014

Useful. Also dangerous. Also dumb. Also a little embarrassing. Mostly, though, for the UFC and for the two fighters involved, it was very, very useful. That one long, lazy left hand from Jones probably sold another 100,000 pay-per-view buys. Whatever else we say about that brawl, we have to admit that it probably worked.

@benfowlkesMMA tmb: how do you stay sane if you're Jon Jones. Every thing he posts creates this Tsunami of rage and trolls. I'd punch anyone—
Max de Vries (@MaxWdeVries) August 05, 2014

I think it probably helps to be rich. I think it also helps – and this is going to sound counter-intuitive – that there’s just so much hate directed at Jones, so often, and so predictably. If there’s one person flipping open his laptop every day to tell you what scum you are, you really can’t help but take notice. If there are five thousand people doing it, and if they do it more or less constantly, regardless of what you do, maybe it becomes like a symphony where it’s hard to isolate any one instrument well enough to hear it. Or maybe he does just walk around feeling like punching people, which, in his line of work, kind of works out.

@benfowlkesMMA is JonesxCormier the worst (although sincere) trash talk ever? Is there a "Yo momma so fat…" down the line until sept?—
FernandoZylbersztejn (@f_zylbersztejn) August 06, 2014

@benfowlkesMMA Thoughts about what Coker's been up to with Bellator so far? Mexicutioner in title shot? That's weird, right?—
Logan Smith (@LoganasaurusRex) August 06, 2014

Oh, you mean you didn’t expect Joey Beltran’s one-fight winning streak to net him a shot at Emanuel Newton’s Bellator light heavyweight title? Come on, with that win over 43-year-old Vladimir Matyushenko, Beltran is now 3-7 in his last 10 fights (excluding the decision win over Igor Pokrajac that was overturned when Beltran popped positive for steroids). He’s gone 1-1 in Bellator, and yet is now just one solid haymaker away from becoming the 205-pound champ. How did we get here?

It’s easy to put it all on Scott Coker, in part because he’s the new man at the helm and also because, if you’re looking to get away from the tournament-oriented, “title shots are earned, not given” approach, nothing accomplishes that quite so effectively as giving a title shot to a man who has clearly not earned one. So maybe that’s part of it. Maybe this is Coker telling us that there’s a new sheriff in town, and he is not at all interested in enforcing the old laws.

It also seems like this could be a symptom over a larger problem with Bellator’s light heavyweight class. Logically, Newton should defend his title against Quinton Jackson next. After all, “Rampage” won that four-man tournament, the goal of which was ostensibly to name a new top contender. But Jackson and Newton are teammates of a sort, and their mutual coach Antonio McKee is on record saying that Newton isn’t making enough money to fight someone like Jackson right now. That leaves Lawal, who Newton has beaten twice already, and Tito Ortiz, who recently beat a middleweight to earn just his second victory of the Obama administration (thanks, Obama).

Add it all up and you have a bit of a holding pattern. You’ve got to keep the champ busy, but you don’t know what to do with him? Easy, grab some slugger who’ll give people a show and throw him in there. It makes no sense, from a competitive standpoint. Then again, neither does Demetrious Johnson vs. Chris Cariaso, so at least Bellator’s not alone.

@benfowlkesMMA What are the odd that Connor McGregor can take back the shine the media day brawl stole from him? #twittermailbag—
Brian Martin (@KaiserSlowzie) August 06, 2014

One thing I do not doubt about Conor McGregor is his ability to get noticed. Obviously his fight with Dustin Poirier is going to be in a supporting role at UFC 178, so the best he can hope for is to grab a small share of the spotlight rather than the entire thing. That’s fine. That’s to be expected. The good news is, with interest in Jones-Cormier at an all-time high, there are bound to be plenty of casual fight fans who come for the main event and also end up getting a glimpse of McGregor almost by accident. All that’s left for McGregor to do is prove that he’s deserving of all the hype, which is easier said than done against a guy like Poirier.

@benfowlkesMMA Future for Bisping if he loses to Cung Le in upcoming fight ?#twittermailbag—
jon ross (@jonross1efc) August 06, 2014

I wouldn’t say this is a win-or-go-home fight for Michael Bisping, but a loss to Cung Le would effectively end whatever lingering hopes he may have of ever fighting for a UFC title. He’s already fallen from pay-per-view attraction to cable TV mainstay to Fight Pass main event. If he loses to a 42-year-old actor/part-time fighter like Le, well, it won’t necessarily be the end, but it might be the beginning of the end for the 35-year-old Bisping.

It’d be a shame, too, because Bisping really is a talented fighter. People are reluctant to give him credit for that, mostly because of how they feel about him as a person, but he’s better than his record indicates, especially once you consider how many of his losses came against fighters who were either known or strongly suspected to be benefiting from the use of performance-enhancing drugs. If Bisping lost to Le and then decided to call it a career, I think we’d have to regard him as one of the best fighters to have never fought for a major title. On the other hand, if he beats Le, who knows? There might be some fight left in him yet.

Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie and USA TODAY’s MMA columnist. Follow him on Twitter at @BenFowlkesMMA. Twitter Mailbag appears every Thursday on MMAjunkie.